Word: kyoto
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...steps in addressing global warming. I was keenly aware that this was the first opportunity for our closest allies to take the measure of President Bush's stance on environmental policies. I also knew their expectations were low because the President had come out against U.S. ratification of the Kyoto Protocol before the 2000 election. This controversial international treaty--which, at the time, had been ratified by only one industrial country, Romania--requires much of the developed world to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to slow global warming...
There has never been much support in the United States in either party for ratifying Kyoto. It was seen as fatally flawed, largely because it didn't apply to nations such as China and India, which, along with the rest of Asia, are expected to account for as much as 70 percent of the global growth in greenhouse gases over the next 15 years. There was also considerable skepticism about the ability of any developed nation to meet its aggressive goals along with concern about the economic costs. Recognizing political reality, the Clinton Administration, a strong advocate of the protocol...
...President's promise on carbon dioxide. So on the plane home, I wrote a memo to the President summarizing the trip. "I would strongly recommend that you continue to recognize that global warming is a real and serious issue. While not specifically endorsing the targets called for in Kyoto, you could indicate that you are exploring how to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions internally and will continue to do so no matter what else transpires." I concluded, "Mr. President, this is a credibility issue [global warming] for the U.S. in the international community. It is also an issue that...
Nonetheless, Bush would have us believe that sensitivity and tact are now all the rage at the White House. Condoleeza Rice told the senators at her recent confirmation hearings that “the time for diplomacy is now.” Apparently 2001, when Bush abandoned the Kyoto Protocol instead of working with other nations to improve it, was not a good time for diplomacy. Nor was it the time for diplomacy, evidently, when Bush enraged the world community by pulling the U.S. out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Then there was March 2003, when Bush abruptly decided...
...atmosphere. A government effort to reduce the release of pollutants domestically and to make a bilateral reduction treaty with China would go far to improve the global situation. Even if the current political climate in the U.S. makes it unlikely that we will sign on to the comprehensive, multinational Kyoto Accords, politicians in Washington must find other ways to stem this growing threat. The alternative is that we wring every bit of short-term profit out of American industry while likely sacrificing its long-term health and the health of this planet. If we do not act, fifty years from...